Richard Kuchta’s ‘Six Star Legacy’

At Easton Public Library

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RICHARD DANA KUCHTA’S ‘SIX STAR LEGACY’ AT THE EASTON PUBLIC LIBRARY w/1 cut;

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EASTON, CONN. — “Six Star Legacy: The World War II Diorama Military Art of Combat Artist Richard Dana Kuchta” is on display at the Easton Public Library through June 30.

Kuchta’s obsession with war miniatures can be attributed to his father who, during World War II, flew 26 missions as a gunner on a B-24 and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. When he returned home from war he developed a passion for building large-scale WWII balsawood fighter aircraft and Richard watched and learned as his father crafted his masterpieces.

Richard Kuchta was drawn to WWII armor pieces, after trying other modeling environments. This interest evolved into crafting accurate historical vignettes. As a student of military history, he developed a sizable library on the subject, on which he relied as he broadened his interests beyond the two World Wars. Over the years he has developed a large collection that includes historical war dioramas from the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and Desert Storm.

In 1977 he began exhibiting at gun and military shows. Since then he has exhibited his Vietnam dioramas in two-person shows with Robert Dennis Bracci at Greenwich Workshop, 1983; Federal Hall in New York City in 1985; in the Smithsonian Institute’s national traveling exhibit, “Vietnam: Fragments and Images — the Brutal Illusion Revisited,” New Haven, Conn.; at Southern Connecticut State University, New York Veterans Association, “Vietnam: A Photographic Essay of the Undeclared War in Southeast Asia,” 1990; and at The Military Museum of Southern New England, Danbury, Conn., in 2000.

Kuchta is represented by the J. Russell Jinishian Gallery in Fairfield, Conn. He has been working for the military museum in Danbury since 1987. His most recent exhibition was a solo show of “Six Star Legacy,” at the Mark Twain Library, Redding, Conn., October 1–November 30, 2006.

The Easton library is directly across from the Town Hall on the corner of Morehouse and Center Roads.

For information, 203-261-0134.